Memoirs of a Geisha

The movie adaption of the book "Memoirs of a Geisha" (or Sayuri as the movie is titled in Japan) will be released in two weeks. As this movie fits well into the current revival of traditional Japan, it could be expected to do rather well in Japan. However, with only one exception Chinese actors are used to portrait Japanese characters, and the controversy about this seems to have started already.

This lecture which I happened to attend and dealing with the way China is represented in Japanese film claims that China is either seen as a threat or a source of salvation. While I do not think that this analysis is sufficient, it is certainly an interesting phenomenon to see Japan presented not only from an American perspective (there was some controversy on this problem when Pearl Harbor was released in Japan in 2001), but using Chinese actors in the process, which is bound to make both Chinese and Japanese uncomfortable.